Recap of Sunday Talk Shows on Syria and 2016

The U.S. military campaign in Syria and the debate over enforcing a no-fly zone continued to dominate Sunday talks shows, as well as the upcoming Democratic TV debate. We also compiled some relevant comments made on these shows.

Below are some excerpts from presidential candidates Donald Trump, Martin O’Malley, Ben Carson:

Trump on Using Military Force as President: “I am the most military-based and the most militaristic person on your show. I want to have a much stronger military. I want it to be so strong that nobody’s going to mess with us… But we have to make our military strong and hopefully never have to use it.” On Striking Syria for Use of Chemical Weapons: “I might have gone in. Yeah, I think it’s terrible. When you start using that, I think it’s terrible. Now it’s such a mess over there, with everybody involved, and the airspace is very limited. You know, it’s not that big an area. The airspace is very limited.” [CBS’s Face the Nation]

O’Malley Against No-Fly Zone in Syria: “Secretary Clinton is always quick for the military intervention. I believe that a no-fly zone right now is not advisable… No-fly zones sound attractive, but no-fly zones also have to be enforced. And given the fact that the Russian air force is in the airspace over Syria, this could lead to an escalation of Cold War proportions because of an accident, and I don’t think that’s in the best interests of the United States. There are many fights in this world. I don’t believe that every fight is our fight.” [CNN’s State of the Union]

Jindal Supports No-Fly Zone: “It accomplishes a couple of things. Number one, it helps to stabilize the region, so you don’t have all these refugees flooding into Europe. It gives us space for moderates, Kurds and others, to group and plan attacks. It keeps Russia from bombing our allies. The folks we’re working with. It shows our Sunni allies in the region that we’re serious about winning this. We’re here because the president drew a red line and didn’t enforce it. We’re here because the president has put political handcuffs on the military… If the military says we need ground troops to wipe out Isis. We’ve got to be — as commander in chief, you have to be open to that option. This president said it will take a generation. We can’t beat Isis with guns. That’s nonsense. These are radical Islamic terrorists that are burning people alive. We can’t negotiate with them. We have to hunt them down and kill them before they attack us here.” [ABC’s This Week]

Carson Defends Gun/Holocaust Comments: “It’s not hyperbole at all. Whether it’s on our doorstep or whether it’s 50 years away, it’s still a concern and it’s something that we must guard against. That’s one of the real purposes of having a constitution. I think the founders were really quite insightful into looking at possibilities and understanding what has happened in other places and trying to put together something that would prevent that from happening here… There are a lot of people in the media who would take anything you say and try and make it into hyperbole and try to make it into controversy. But the fact of the matter is when you talk to average American citizens, they know exactly what I’m talking about.” [CBS’s Face The Nation]

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke Pushes Back Against Bernie Sanders’ Criticism of  2008 Financial Crisis: “I understand the anger. I understand the politicians are going to respond to the public’s concern about the economy, about their own jobs and so on. I understand that. But I think that substantively that they were mistaken. I concede that regulators and Congress and many people didn’t see the crisis coming and made mistakes. But once the crisis began, I think the Fed acted appropriately and aggressively and did what had to be done to get us back through the other side. I think that those criticisms substantively are not accurate.” [ABC’s This Week]

Wasserman Schultz Shy about Sanders Winning the Presidency: “This election is going to be decided on – based on what the voters believe is the best choice in their candidate for president, who is going to help make sure that their lives can get better. And any one of our candidates is in dramatic contrast to any of the Republican circus candidates.. I believe that any one of our candidates will stand in stark contrast when it comes to the priorities of the American people and how they’re going to make the decision on who they vote for president to any of the Republican candidates.” [CNN’s State of the Union]

Trump’s counsel Michael Cohen: “You know, can I touch on one other additional quality Mr. Trump has that no other candidates have? He’s a doer. The guy has been able and successful if doing so much. He does it with honest. That’s something that so many of these other candidates lack. They’re just not honest. We as voters, we see right through this. … Donald Trump, let me tell you what he presents, he represents the heart and soul of America, of the silent majority in the middle class that has been overlooked. He represents exactly what America is looking for, leadership, ability and nothing shy of being what an American president should be. [CNN’s Reliable Sources]

Mitch McConnell on Obama’s Foreign Policy: “The president has ushered in a genuine meltdown of American foreign policy across the board… “You name the country. Where are we in better shape now than we were when he came to office? Nowhere.” [The Cats Roundtable on AM970 New York]

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